OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS 93 



great travel and from long hunting, as when they 

 be hot they drink of foul water and unclean, which 

 corrupteth their bodys, and also when they hunt in 

 evil places of pricklings of thorns, of briers, or per- 

 adventure it raineth upon them, and they be not 

 well tended afterwards. Then cometh the scab, 

 and also the scab cometh upon them when they 

 abide in their kennel too long ^ and goeth not hunt- 

 ing. Or else their litter and couch is uncleanly 

 kept, or else the straw is not removed and their 

 water not freshened, and shortly the hounds un- 

 clean, I hold, and evil kept or long waterless^ have 

 commonly this mange. For the cure of which take 

 ye the root of an herb that groweth upon houses 

 and walls, the which is called in Latin iroos^ (iris) 

 and chop it small and boil it well in water, and 

 then put thereto as much of oil made of nuts as 

 of water, and when it is well boiled cast out the 

 herb, and then take of black pitch and of rosin as 

 much of the one as of the other, well stamped, and 

 cast it in the water and the oil before said, and stir 

 it well about on the fire with a pot-stick : and then 

 let it well grow cold, and anoint the hound as before 



1 In the Shirley MS. the words are added : "to(o) hye plyte," 

 i.e. too high condition. G. de F. (p. 91) adds "gresse." 



^ Ireos^ Eng. Iris, This word is also constantly recurring 

 in old household books. Aniseed and orris powder were placed 

 among linen to preserve it from insects. \n Edward IV.'s 

 Wardrobe Accounts we read of bags of fustian stuffed with 

 anneys and ireos. 



